Samuel sent (a fictional) reply to David and filled him in on what happened to Saul in the incident recorded in 1 Samuel 15:10-26, especially from his excuse
19[Samule asked], “Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” 20“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. 21Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” (1 Sam. 15:19-21)
Dear David,
Your heartfelt letter reached me, and I find myself deeply moved by your quest for understanding. You wonder about Saul, and in doing so, you wonder about yourself. We all stand on the precipice of grace and fallibility.
Saul’s undoing was not a simple act of disobedience; it was a complex web of self-deception. Self-deception is a subtle snare. It allows us to know the truth, yet not fully grasp it because we don’t wish to. It’s not the worst thing we do, but it’s the reason we can do the worst things. Saul’s actions in dealing with the Amalekites were a manifestation of this perilous state of being.
Take heed of these early warning signs:
First, Saul shifted the blame onto others [1]. When we point fingers at others, we are often pointing away from our own hearts. This is a diversion, a way to avoid the mirror of our soul. When we blame others, we absolve ourselves of responsibility, and in doing so, we distance ourselves from the truth.
Second, Saul tried to compensate for his disobedience through religious rituals [2]. Saul thought God could be appeased with the smoke of sacrifices. But God isn’t looking for smoke; He’s looking for fire—the fire of a humble heart. To obey God is better than sacrifice, and to listen to the Lord is better than any good deed.
Third, Saul minimized his own wrongdoings [3], as if they were mere pebbles on the road. But even pebbles can cause one to stumble, and a stumble can lead to a fall. Minimizing your wrongs is a sign that self-deception has taken root. When you find yourself doing the same, beware. You’re not just fooling others; you’re fooling yourself.
David, as you navigate the complexities of the royal court, how will you keep your soul attuned to the Spirit within you? How will you guard against the subtle snares of self-deception?
Your Father in the faith,
Samuel
Share with your friends, “How will you guard against the subtle snares of self-deception?“
[1] “my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder…”
[2] “…to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal“
[3] “I did obey the Lord… I carried out the mission He gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else“
Celeste: Good morning everyone. For a very long time I blamed a lot of people for my drug usage, then I told myself I’m going to get a great career , do good in my life , have a place over my head drive a nice car all of that just so I can still be using drugs. But knowing deep inside that I was deceiving myself I knew that it was wrong but I used other excuses that I think were good to keep on using drugs.
Today I have 47 days clean and I do that by being honest to myself by admitting that I have a problem and by going to my NA meetings. I had to let go of all the people that were in my life that are still using, I got back into praying and asking god for his forgiveness and following our lords directions and words. I surround myself with like minded people that don’t use and have made wonderful new friends along the way.
Today I can honestly say I don’t have the desire to go back to my old ways , the self deception and destructions that I’ve caused. I am still a work in progress but one thing I know is that when I pray honestly and truthfully to god, it always get answered and I see it.
(from Roger)
For so long, I have lived guarded and in a web of my own self-deception. I rationalized everything and did things according to my own self imposed rules of what’s right and wrong. In some areas I overcompensated in kindness because I felt tortured by the guilt and shame in other areas or in dealings with other people and thought that brought balance to my life. I have come to find out that secrets thrive in the dark and die in the light of truth. And it’s these secrets that have contributed to keeping me enslaved to bondage of self will, destruction and self deception. I heard this once shared in the rooms that you don’t have to dance with everyone but if you want to recover, really recover and not just stop using, u have to dance with someone. I have always prided myself on being honest, almost brutally honest, but my self deception didn’t allow me to realize that yes, I was brutally honest but it was only when I chose to be. Only when I saw fit and it wouldn’t harm the perception of me to others. I look at this reprieve I’ve been given during these last 76 days and I truly want to recover and am doing my best to follow the steps outlined in our basic text. Again, self deception is allowed to creep in because I say im doing my best but we’re not perfect. I can only continue to remind myself that I want my secrets to die so that there are none left. I want to live in congruency with gods will for me. For me, that starts with being honest open and willing. I will utilize my son sponsor and recognize that I will only get as well as I allow myself to. I will surround myself with good people who aren’t afraid to help me see mt shortcomings or where I fall short of what god intended for me. I will surround myself with people longer in faith and sobriety who can guide me and help me see where my own self deception is rearing its ugly head. I will continue to grow in faith and learn more abt god and his journey. I will continue to put pen to paper and allow myself to see a
One way I can guard against self deception is to connect with God daily. I need His Word to renew my mind and my heart. I need His wisdom and strength to live out my faith. I need to repent of my sins and not minimize my wrongdoings. My prayer is that He creates in me a clean heart, so I can obey Him and walk humbly with Him daily.
How will o be guarding against the subtle snares of self deception….I gotta reflect back to the word, to our father’s word. From here I’ll find truth and I must apply that truth and be true to myself. For our hearts and mind could trick us into doing anything. If you think about it long enough, you’ll eventually convince yourself of it. So fight the spiritual battles with fixing myself to the Lord. The passage talks about how we reason by blaming something or someone else, or by tryna compensate and reason that we could make up for it, or think that it’s minor and it’s nothing big. If we take refuge in him, as cheesy and cliche as that sounds. It’s what I have to do, I know it can be hard sometimes because our fleshly desires are tugging on us. So pray, continue to let the Holy Spirit to lead, surround yourself with the Lord’s people so they can call you out and support you in your journey of transformation.
As I reflected in this devotion I’ve seen that I self-deception is very prominent and that it’s easy for me to deceive myself into thinking a certain way. I would need to read and pray to know how God is so I have the Armour of God and know my identity in Christ
Ciara: I will guard against the subtle snares of self-deception by not thinking of myself more highly than I should. I will not blame others for my own actions. It absolves myself of my responsibility and it distances me from the truth. I won’t try to recompense my disobedience through religious rituals. Obeying God is better than any sacrifice. Minimizing my sins can lead me to fall off the right path. When i find myself doing the same thing over and over again it’s a sign that i’m starting to minimize my sins. I’m not just fooling others, im fooling myself.
I think for me it’s just being patient with God and waiting to hear his voice. I think especially for myself when I burn out and get tired I try really hard to bail out and do something else that could be good when in reality it isn’t what God wants me to do. So just trying to not act quickly and being patient.
From Sister Rose
I would say in order to guard against self-deception would to admit to myself that my disobedience is my choice and recognizing that I am the only one to blame. Along with that self-realization would be actions to stand against it. For myself, I’d need to understand God’s word and what he deems as obedience and disobedience, secondly I’d need to look deep within myself and deal with the state of my heart and ask myself why I choose to disobey. Third, spending time in prayer and asking God to speak his truth into my heart. Fourth, humbling myself to allow my Godly brothers and sisters to speak truth to me but also being able to discern between their opinions vs. them keeping me accountable according to God’s word without being angered by their words.
I will guard myself against the subtle snares of self-deception by learning God’s Word and applying it to my daily life. It is easy for me to be ensnared by self-deception if I don’t have enough knowledge of His Word and His wisdom. Therefore, I should communicate with Him regularly through prayer and reflect on what I have learned from Him, rather than blaming someone or complaining about something.
I can guard myself against snares of self deception by opening up my heart to what God is talking to me about or what my leaders or brothers and sisters in Christ instruct me to do. I tend to always listen to only myself, and what I myself think is right rather than God, but my mind alone is easily influenced by the world and my own sinful nature but by practicing the ability to listen to others, and most importantly, God, I am able to relinquish my pride and follow God‘s commands more intentionally rather than compromise with my own desires like we talked about yesterday